By NATION REPORTER
THE matter of the prolonged detention of Mumbi Phiri lies in the hands of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and not the Republican President, UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa has said.
Mr Mweetwa said in an interview it was unfair that the blame was heaped on the UPND when the matter was purely in the hands of the DPP.
He said the DPP was not answerable to anyone and therefore she had the powers to expedite the case rather than paint a picture that the UPND was the one stalling the matter because she was politically-inclined to the PF.
“It’s really unfortunate that the UPND has been painted black in this matter because they think the reason Mumbi Phiri’s case is still delaying is because she is PF which is far from the truth,” he said.
Mr Mweetwa was reacting to Our Civic Duty Association (OCIDA) chairperson Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu’s statement over the incarceration of the former PF deputy secretary general and her co-accused, former president Edgar Lungu’s barber Shabby Chilekwa.
The two are being held in connection with a murder case for six months without trial which Archbishop Mpundu said was one clear illustration of abuse of human rights and demanded for her immediate release.
He said that he understood Archbishop Mpundu’s frustration and that he was just being concerned just as he was when the UPND was in opposition.
Mr Mweetwa said that despite the DPP as an individual having her own issues she had the powers to deal with the matter expeditiously unlike the current situation.
